Judge sides with city in term limits case

City charter watchdog White vows to appeal

STOCKTON - In a third and final ruling issued Friday, a judge told former Stockton mayoral candidate Ralph Lee White that there exists no legal reason for enforcing term limits by White's reading of the city charter.

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By Scott Smith

recordnet.com

By Scott Smith

Posted Feb. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Scott Smith

Posted Feb. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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STOCKTON - In a third and final ruling issued Friday, a judge told former Stockton mayoral candidate Ralph Lee White that there exists no legal reason for enforcing term limits by White's reading of the city charter.

Ironically, the charter's lack of clarity - which White pointed to as problematic for then-Mayor Ann Johnston, his former opponent - formed the basis of the ruling.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Lesley Holland found that for him to side with White and limit Johnston's, or anyone's, right to seek city office, the charter would have to forbid it in no uncertain terms.

"I can't say you're wrong," Holland told White. "I think it's ambiguous. It's open to interpretation. In that instance, the law says I favor the city."

After the hearing, White vowed to take his case next to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, where he said the taint of Stockton politics will be stripped away.

White first brought the city and Johnston to court last year, when the two candidates were in a crowded race for mayor, an office Anthony Silva ultimately captured in November's election.

As a watchdog of the city charter, White cited Section 606 for making Johnston an ineligible candidate. She had served two terms on the council and sought her second term as mayor, for a potential total of four terms.

The charter says: "No person elected as either Mayor or Councilmember shall be eligible to serve, or serve, as either Mayor or Councilmember for more than two (2) terms ... "

White all along argued that this was written to limit a person to serve no more than two terms total at City Hall. His persistence may have been a factor leading to Johnston's defeat.

White said he continues to seek clarity despite her ouster. He feared that the charter's poorly worded section leaves open the possibility that somebody could serve two terms as mayor and then seek two terms on the council or vice versa.

White has been relentless. Holland early last year issued two tentative rulings before this one telling White that Johnston could seek another term, as the city argued.

The city then filed for bankruptcy in June, telling White that his suit was suspended among a long list of litigants. White convinced the federal bankruptcy judge in a personal appeal to let him proceed with his case.

In Friday's hearing, White returned to the Stockton courtroom, taking a seat at the table, arguing on his own behalf against a lineup of seasoned attorneys hired by the city, Johnston and the county's registrar of voters.

"There is nothing vague and ambiguous," White said of the charter. "That vague and ambiguous (argument) won't fly. It won't even meet the smell test."

He objected to other attorneys and told the judge his first two rulings were wrong, which brought them back to court. As a taxpayer, White said he was offended by the city defending its reading of the charter enacted in 1986 by Measure C, instituting term limits. "The thing that bothers me the most, I'm paying the city attorneys to fight me on our measure, on a measure that was put on the ballot by the City Council," he said.

The ongoing fight has racked up approximately $100,000 in legal fees paid by the city and Johnston, when White said it could have been resolved last year by going back to a public vote.

Johnston was not in court, but her attorney, Thomas Keeling, represented her. Keeling said he found White's argument citing the cost "disingenuous in the extreme," because the city and Johnston had no choice but to respond to White's suit, he said.